


Black Cat Nightmares

by UAs_Fics



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Found amongst old files, Gen, Nightmares, One-Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-06
Updated: 2020-04-06
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:21:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23513851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UAs_Fics/pseuds/UAs_Fics
Summary: Adrien is having nightmares that he can't tell anyone about.
Kudos: 23





	Black Cat Nightmares

**Author's Note:**

> So, my laptop died for the time being, so I had to drag out my old one with the questionable battery to read knitting patterns since my phone screen is small and the patterns have a lot of information on them. While looking around at some old files for the lols, I found this fic. I figured four years was more than enough time to let this sit, so I gave it a twice over and a run through in Grammarly. Enjoy ^-^

The moon bathed the empty streets of Paris in a sickly yellow glow. Only the wind echoed off the bricks.

Part of him hoped a car would come driving by and that the driver would honk and yell at him for playing in the street. The other part of him knew better. There was no one else in Paris, not anymore. Every house was empty, every store vacant. Doors left half open and cars, some with their engines still running, lined the streets. They were all that was left among about the mix of modern and old architecture that was his beloved city.

His lungs cried out in pain. When was the last time he'd stopped to take a breath? He couldn't remember, maybe a few minutes, maybe a few hours. It didn't matter either way. He needed to get home, to his house, to his room, to his ring. He could fix everything if only he had his ring. Get the ring, find Ladybug, fix this mess, just like always. 

_Just like always_ He repeated to himself somberly. 

Adrien rounded the corner then dashed diagonally across the street and through the open gates. For a brief moment, he considered shutting them, though he knew better. A simple gate won't hold this enemy at bay, not by a long shot. 

He just started taking the steps, two at a time, when a voice cried out his name. Adrien spun around, nearly falling off the steps. He balanced himself against the railings and panted, taking in breaths of sour-tasting air.

"Adrien, what are you doing?" His father asked, coming up the steps after him. There was a concerning lack of worry on Mr. Agrese's face. 

"Father." Adrien felt tears prick at the corners of his eyes. That monster hadn't gotten his father. He was safe. His only family was still safe. Thank God. Adrien wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Father," he repeated, this time with more agency. "We need to go! There's a supervillain out there. He's destroying everyone, and you--you need to come with me to be safe!"

Before his father could protest, Adrien grabbed hold of his father's wrist and began to pull him up the stairs. 

Ladybug would understand if he left his secret slip to his father, wouldn't she? Especially with an enemy like that out there! Maybe if his father knew he was Chat Noir, he wouldn't be so strict about things like curfews or piano practices.

Adrien came to the second to last step when he realized he didn't feel any resistance from his father. Even if his father kept pace with him, wouldn't he still feel a little of gravity's pull as they ascended? 

"Father, are you--"

His voice caught in his throat before escaping in a strangled gasp. His father fell back away from Adrien’s black-gloved hand with his wrist held tight to his chest.

A wave of broiling black magic swept over his body. Adrien nearly fell as he stumbled back down the steps. He felt his tail-like belt slap against the back of his ankles as he stumbled to a stop. He kneeled and pulled his father into his lap. 

The magic drained the life from his father. Skin constricting against bones as muscle disappeared only to turn into dust soon after.

"No, no, no, no!" Adrien hovered his hands over his father's body. He had to stop it! He just had too! He already lost his mother, he couldn't lose his father too! "I'll save you! I promise; I promise, I-I-I..."

But it was too late, in a matter of seconds, all that was left was dust and an empty tailored suit. Adrien pulled the jacket to his chest and began to sob. Dust spilled out over the front of his leather pants. 

"No, no, please, Natalie, Ladybug, Mother, someone, please...please, help." 

"If that's what you want, I can help you," a new, unnerving familiar voice cooed. "We are a superhero, after all."

Chat Noir's head jerked up. Luminous green eyes met a matching set. Out of protective reflex, Chat pulled the jacket closer. He felt his body begin to shake with rage and grief. 

"Get away from us! This is all your fault!" He snarled. 

The other Chat Noir put his hand to his chest in faux dismay. The display only lasted a few seconds before he dropped his hand and his face contorted into a nasty smirk. A chuckle escaped his lips. Then the chuckle that grew into a bout of roaring laughter that echoed around the empty black room. 

Chat clasped his hands over his ears. "Stop! STOP!" He screamed. The laughter-filled his head. He couldn't think clearly like this! 

"I said STOP!"

He raised his head above his head then brought it down. His eyes widened in terror as he felt his claw land not on the cold ground as he had expected but on smooth fabric and soft flesh. 

Ladybug looked down at him. Her beautiful blue eyes gazed at him in confused. The rest of her face contorted in pain. The same black magic that took his father away from him rolled up her body from her left thigh, stealing away the life Chat so loved from her. She stumbled forward, reaching out with shaking hands towards him.

"Chat...Noir...W-Why..."

* * *

Adrien shot upright in bed, gulping for air like a drowning man. It took everything he had in him not to use the air he just inhaled to scream out.

Plagg blinked slowly before pushing himself up from the pillow beside Adrien's. 

"What's going on? City under attack or something?" The kwami rubbed his eyes. He blinked the remaining sleep away before examining the huddled mess that was his master: knees pulled to his chest, hands gripping the blanket with white knuckles, and tear tracks running down his cheeks.

Plagg slowly floated over and gently put a hand over Adrien's. "Hey, buddy, you..." He sighed. "It was another nightmare, wasn't it?"

Adrien stiffly nodded. 

"This is the third one this week, Adrien," Plagg frowned. "And you still don't want to talk about it?"

Another nod. Since the second nightmare, Plagg had been asking that. Logically, Adrien knew talking about the nightmares would help, it would help a lot, but he couldn't bring himself to tell Plagg his nightmares were partial because of him and the power he gave him. It wasn't Plagg's fault, and Adrien wasn't going to let his friend think that, either.

"I'm fine." Adrien flashed a smile. "Go back to sleep." He gently patted Plagg on the head. The kwami wrinkled up his nose but didn't protest. Plagg floated back down to the pillow. 

"If you wanna talk, you can," a pause and a yawn, "in the morning, anyways. Sleep well, Adrien."

"Thanks, you too." Adrien smiled again before laying back down. He rolled to his side, the covers pulled to his jawline, and shut his eyes.

But, he didn't sleep.

* * *

Violent-ist drew her bow across the instrument strings to send a wave of angry faced musical notes at the hero. Chat Noir thrusts his staff into the ground and vaulted over the attack. The notes crashed into the side of the department store with an irritating twang. 

Before the violin theme villain could react, Chat pulled his weapon from the ground and slung it overhead at her. He narrowly missed her instrument, hitting her shoulder instead. The villain reeled back with a gasp, clenching her shoulder. 

"Why you, naughty kitty!" The villain snapped. "I'll have to play an extra special song for you!"

"Well," Chat smirked, "they do say music soothes the savage beast." He pulled his staff back and began to spin it between his fingers. "Too bad the only savage beast here is your cello playing!"

The vein in the Violent-ist neck bulged through the tight collar of her outfit. She stomped her foot against the ground and began to yell at him how it wasn't a cello, it was a violin! not a cello, not a fiddle, not a viola, not a trombone, a VIOLIN!

Chat's smirk never wavered. 

It was all going according to Ladybug's plan: Keep the Voilentist in the parking lot, keep her distracted, get out of the way when Ladybug told him too.

He glanced away from the villain's tantrum momentary, spying his lady rigging up her plan up in the corner of the parking lot, near the side of a convenience store. Something with a large plastic tub and the store's outdoor inflatable display and the bag of marbles her lucky charm had produced. 

"You're just like everyone else!" The Violent-ist snapped, throwing out her bow. "Why doesn't anyone ever listen to me!" The Violent-ist scraped her bow across the strings in a hiss of a sound. The musical notes that had embedded themselves in the wall began to struggle their way free from the concrete. 

The notes gathered around Chat. Each screeched at a different frequency. Chat began to rotate his staff around like a shield. The notes slammed against him. His boots dug into the gravel as he was pushed back. More and more notes flew out of the villain's instrument as she played a frantic melody. 

He racked his brain for a plan, or at least a funny quip, until Ladybug finished, but he drew a blank. The only thought that even attempted to come to the surface was his bed back home. The same thought that had been in the back of his mind all day. 

The rush of the battle that had been keeping him alert and on his feet had begun to fade as the screeching of notes morphed into a constant drone.

He was just so tired. 

He wavered, just a second, but that was all it took. The Violent-ist slammed another melody's worth of notes against Violent-ist. The force threw the hero hard against the glass front of a store. The superhero rolled, bits of glass pricked him through his suit. He slammed against the counter of the store. His vision doubled. 

"I don't think this is what she meant when she asked me to keep her in the parking lot," Chat muttered. He attempted to stand, only to find a boot pressed against his chest. 

The Violent-ist looked down at the captured superhero with a smirk. 

"Don't worry," She chuckled, grinding her boot into his sternum, "this is a pet store; I'll find the kitty something else to play with." She pointed her bow down at his nose. "after I take your Miraculous!"

Everything that happened next came in slow motion. He felt the power of cataclysm form into his hand. And his hand grabbed hold of the bow, centimeters from the villain's fingers. The villain jerked her hand back as her bow disintegrated into dust on Chat's chest and held it to her own.

Chat's breath hitched in his throat. This was all too familiar, just like his dream, but with different players. His body began to shake. He didn’t remember calling cataclysm to his hand. How close had his hand been to touching hers? Only a few centimeters little higher and he would have--she could be--then he would have been--

"Chat Noir!" Ladybug called, skidding to a stop just outside the shop. He jerked his head up. A telltale purple and black butterfly fluttered up from the destroyed bow and was dancing in the air right in front of his face. 

He gasped and shooed the creature away.

Before Ladybug could capture the akuma, Chat scrambled to his feet and dashed past her, leaping from the window.

* * *

The dreams came in two flavors. 

Everyone he cared about was gone, and the one he was having right now: Everything he cared about was there.

A nearly an entire classroom worth of akumatized super villains circled him: The Bubbler, Lady Wifi, Anti-Bug, Stone Heart, everyone in his class he could remember fighting and saving from the Hawk Moth. Behind them, the rest of the class who'd never been akumatized stood at the ready, fire in their eyes.

Adrien’s back pressed against the desk. 

"Please," He pleaded, "I don't want to fight. I don't want to hurt anyone!"

"I doubt that," Anti-Bug scoffed. 

"Don't be mad at us, dude." the Bubbler pointed his wand at Adrien. "We're doing this for everyone else. You're dangerous."

Adrien scrambled on top of the desk. "I'm not, really!" His voice cracked.

"Oh yeah?" Lady wifi held up her phone. 

The scene from the battle with the Voilentist played: Chat Noir crashing through the window, the villain stamping her foot down on him, and his cataclysm attack striking her in the abdomen. The villain stumbling back as a dark void covered her body. Her mouth opened in a voiceless scream until the attack made its way to her face and she crumpled to the ground as a husk. 

Adrien felt his throat tighten and each word was forced and felt heavy in his mouth. "I didn't--I mean--I didn't mean to."

Lady Wifi swiped her finger across the screen sending screens playing the scene around the room. Everyone last one of them faced Adrien, replaying the scene over and over and over again. Each time the lump in his stomach grew bigger and colder until he felt nothing but cold regret.

Stone Heart raised his fist. All around, people, who at their core, were his friends, readied their attacks. It didn't matter to them what he said, their minds were already set in stone. Someone, or maybe everyone, spoke:

"This is for your own good."

* * *

His knees collided with the desk as his back hit the floor. Adrien stared up at the ceiling of the classroom, dazed, with starbursts scattered across his vision.

He heard laughter, a few gasps, and the click of the teacher's shoes against the floor, but the fuzz of sleep and the cold feeling from his dream still clung to his brain like a thick fog.

After what felt like an hour, Adrien felt a hand on his shoulders, helping him sit up.

"Dude, you ok?" Nino asked.

Adrien shook his head. "No, I mean, yeah, I mean." He took a breath. "Tired." 

With Nino's help, Adrien slowly stood back up. At the point, the entire class was silent, the laughter from earlier had long since died and many of the faces that looked back at him had varying levels of concern on them. Even the teacher, who Adrien was sure would yell at him for falling asleep in class, wore a worried expression. 

"Adrien," the teacher frowned at him.

Adrien swallowed and flashed a smile. "Sorry for the interruption."

"Nino, I want you to walk Adrien to the nurse's office." She ordered. Adrien opened his mouth to protest, but the teacher's hard look made him shut it. He nodded then began towards the door with Nino in tow.

In the hallway, Adrien rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms. Of all the times he had to fall asleep, it had to be during class. The embarrassment that would have come with snoring or being reprimanded by the teacher he could deal with. It wouldn't take more than a day or two for something else to happen and everyone to forget. But the concern? the worry? That he couldn't handle as well. 

"Dude," Nino put a hand on his forearm. "are you--"

"I'm fine," he cut in, maybe too quickly. Adrien steeled himself and repeated, calmly, "I'm fine." 

Nino shook his head. "No, you're not. You don't fall asleep in class, and you looked like you were having a, like, nightmare or something. What's wrong?"

Plagg began to shift around in Adrien's jacket. Adrien had forgotten about the kwami until then. He reached up and pulled his jacket tighter around himself then sighed. There was that catch 22 again. Nino couldn't know he was Chat Noir. No matter how much he suddenly wanted to tell him.

Adrien chewed the inside of his cheek a moment then heaved a sigh. "Can I ask you a, um, personal question? You don't have to answer it if you don't want to."

Nino blinked then nodded. "Shoot. What is it?"

"When you," Adrien paused to think over his wording, "When you were akumatized, did you ever worry, that is, did you ever feel bad, that you could have hurt people?"

His friend's hand dropped to his side. He pursed his lips then slowly nodded. 

"Yeah, kind of." He readjusted his hat before he continued. "I don't really remember what happened between hearing this wild voice in my head asking me to help him and being beaten by Ladybug and Chat Noir. Just, like, little flashes, I guess. But, for a while afterwards, when people told me what I did while akumatized, I felt horrible." 

Nino let out a breath. "I know I did those things, controlled or not, and I could have caused a lot more trouble than I did."

"How did you, you know, get over it?" Adrien asked.

Nino shrugged. "I'm not sure. Time, I guess. Time passed, and then other people got akumatized, and, well," his eyes suddenly flashed, "I knew it didn't matter anymore."

"What?" Adrien furrowed his brow. "It didn't matter? You could have kil--hurt someone a whole lot. Any villain can and--"

Nino cut him off with a wave of his hand. A smile played on his lips. 

"Dude, if this is what's bothering you so much you have nightmares and can't sleep, then just chill out. If you do get akumatized, you just gotta remember this really important thing." Nino dropped both his hands on Adrien's shoulders and met his eyes. "Ladybug and Chat Noir are heroes, bro! And heroes always beat the villains— _always_. Doesn't matter if it's me or you or Hawk Moth himself, they'll figure out a way to beat the bad guy and save everyone!"

"Thanks, bro. That's kind of comforting." He forced a smile to accompany his lie. 

Nino nodded and tapped a small beat with his fingers against Adrien's shoulders before stepping back. "No problem, dude. I'm your friend, if you ever need to talk again, just call me up. Now, I guess, let's get you to the nurse's office. It's not the comfiest bed in the world, but it'll be a good enough place for you to rest up."

* * *

The nurses' office was no better than at home. Adrien pretended to sleep until the nurse left then just stared at the wall. Plagg crawled his way out of Adrien's jacket. He floated just above Adrien's line of sight before sitting himself down on the side of Adrien's head. 

"Hey, Adrien, you know you can't be akumatized, don't you?" Plagg asked. "Having the miraculous protects you from Hawk Moth's power."

Adrien didn't reply. Instead, he rolled to bury his face in his pillow. Plagg avoided being tossed off the side of the bed, but just barely. He floated back over and began to prod Adrien's ear.

"Come oooooon! Tell me what's wrong." Plagg demanded. "I promise I won't laugh if it ends up being something dumb." Plagg waited a moment then groaned loudly in Adrien's ear. 

"Fine, you don't want to talk to me, whatever, I guess I'm not that important to you." He huffed. 

Adrien rolled his head to the side and frowned. "Plagg, don't. I want to tell you, but I...you won't understand." 

Plagg narrowed his eyes. "I've been around for centuries. I'm sure I could grasp whatever it is." The kwami floated closer. "So come on, spill it."

Adrien pressed his lips together then spoke. "Anwer me a question first."

Plagg titled his head to the side but nodded with a shrug. 

"Alright, I want to know what would happen if cataclysm, if it was--was used--" The words formed a lump in his throat. They refuse to come out. HE continued to force the words out but just kept stammering over them. Finally, he buried his face back in the pillow. His cheeks burned red.

Plagg set his paw on the side of his master's face. 

"You wanna know what happens to a person if someone uses cataclysm on them?" 

Adrien nodded without removing his face from the pillow. He didn't want Plagg to see the tears forming in his eyes at hearing the words spoken aloud. 

"They all ask it sooner or later," Plagg muttered to himself. He took a breath. "Ok, listen, you probably don't want to hear this from me, but cataclysm works on living things just like on an inanimate object. It withers them away, forces age to take its toll on them. It will kill them."

Adrien gripped the thin blanket tighter. He wanted to throw up. 

"Why," He turned and glared at Plagg. "Why would you give that power to a kid?"

Plagg sighed. "I didn't choose you, Adrien. But the person who did think you were the best choice to have that power. He knew you could be trusted.'' The kwami rested his forehead against Adrien's nose. "And I do too. I've had a lot of partners over the centuries, some of them weren't as good of people as you, some were, but all of them had to make a choice." Plagg moved back and met Adrien's gaze. "Whether they could handle the responsibility of their power. I think it's time for you to make that choice."

Adrien tried to blink the tears away but failed. "I don't want to hurt anyone like that. I'm not, I don't want to be a murderer, Plagg."

"Then don't be." 

Adrien pushed himself up onto his knees. The blanket balled around him. "Plagg, I mean this! Like that fight yesterday, I was so close to hurting that girl, and I don't even remember thinking about using my attack!"

Plagg rolled his eyes. "Well, yeah! You hadn't slept properly in nearly two weeks, I know for a fact you're not eating, and you've been stressed out of your mind, what did you expect to happen? You humans can't function properly like that."

Adrien opened his mouth then shut it again. He heaved a sigh through his nose. 

"I don't know. I just don't want to break something that I can't fix."

Plagg shrugged. "That's why you've got Ladybug. Ladybugs have been fixing Black Cat's mistakes through the ages."

"But what if she's not there?" He countered. "What if I'm alone? I know LAdybug can only fix what breaks during an akuma attack. What if there isn't one? What then? She can't help me then."

The kwami face twisted into an expression of exasperation. "Wow, and here I thought Ladybug was your friend!"

"She is!" 

"Then why do you think she'd make you deal with it by yourself? Even if she can't fix everything back up, at least she can be there for you to pick up the pieces." 

Adrien's shoulders slumped down and his mouth hung open a little bit. He slowly reached up to touch his forehead. Something clicked inside his mind. For the first time in weeks, a feeling like comfort started to well up in him.

Plagg floated to the top of the curtain that surrounded the bed. He peeked over it with narrowed eyes. "I think the bell's gonna ring soon. Unless you want your dad or Natalie nosing around, you probably should go and clean up, because your face is red."

* * *

He should have expected the number of messages he had to be in the double digits after he flaked on LAdybug two days ago, but somehow listening to all the voicemails of his partner's sweet, concerned voice pushed away from the guilt he might have felt over it.

It made him lighter than air as he moved across the Parisian rooftops. He smiled to himself as he pressed to call. It only took a single ring for her to pick up. He knew she would, not only because she was probably worried but because this was her day to patrol the city. She was already out and about.

"Chat Noir! About time you called back!" There was relief mingled in with the annoyance of her voice. His smile widens even more.

"My lady, I believe you and I need to have a chat about the other day. Would you mind meeting me somewhere private?" 

"Or," Ladybug said, "I could talk to you right here." 

Before Chat could reply, the end of Ladybug's yoyo wrapped around his waist and jerked him back. He gasped and only stopped himself from falling over onto his stomach but hand standing backward and back to his feet. Someone clapped behind him.

"Nice save," Ladybug grinned at him. 

"Why thank you. Cats always land on their feet, you know." He smirked very matter of factly. 

She rolled her eyes at him and pulled her yoyo back to her hand. Her amused smile faded as she stepped closer. "So, about recently--"

"Wait, before that, I need you to answer something for me." Chat took a breath. He slowly raised his hands. He hovered them over her shoulders before dropping them back to his side. After a breath, he decided to stand straight and tall, only bending his neck down to look into Ladybug's eyes.

"You're my partner, no matter what happens, right? Even if something really horrible happens because of me, you'll be there, won't you?" 

She furrowed her brow. "This is a hypothetical question, or did you really do something?"

Chat stiffened then laughed nervously. "Hypothetically, promise."

While Ladybug looked a little unsure she shrugged it off. "If that's the case, yes, Chat Noir. We're a superhero team. Team members work together, even when one messes up."

At those words, any of the leftover tension from the past weeks left Chat. For a second, he almost thought he would cry. Instead, he sat back on the rooftop and ran his hands through his hair. Laughter bubbled out of his mouth. 

He looked at her. His green eyes gleamed. "You don't know how much I wanted to hear that."

"Chat...?" Ladybug crouched down. "What's going on. You've been nothing but strange for the past few weeks."

Chat sighed. Part of him had hoped she would just that off the hook, but it was not to be.

"I've haven't been sleeping well," he admitted. "I've had nothing but nightmares, about," the lump was forming in his throat again. He swallowed it down. "About what would happen if cataclysm was used on a person." 

Ladybug's eyebrows shot up in surprise. She nearly fell over onto the roof. "What?"

"Yeah," He looked away. "Remember, a few weeks ago, at that party with the akumatized bear butler? After we beat him, I overheard someone mention afterward how I almost used it on you, and it started to spiral downhill from there." Chat rain a hand through his hair. "It never occurred to me that something like that could happen if I wasn't careful. I've been stressing over it and can't sleep."

Ladybug gently reached up and took his hand. His cheeks redden as he looked from their touching hands to her face. A soft smile on her lips. Ladybug squeezed his hand. Her thumb rang over the top of his ring.

"You don't ever need to worry about that. I know you wouldn't hurt someone like that on purpose. You're just a big old softy under all those jokes." She laughed, making his blush grow deeper. "But, if it ever did happen by accident, I'll be there to help make everything better."

Chat placed his free hand on top of her and squeezed. "Promise?" 

She nodded. "Promise. Now, I think you should go get some sleep, seeing as you're starting to waver a little too close." She pulled one hand free and held it between the two of them. Chat hadn't even noticed how close he'd lean while she was talking.

Not that he minded at all, of course.

* * *

It was the sun that woke him this time. Adrien glared out the window before pulling the blanket back over his head. 

Plagg prodded the side of Adrien's face. "Hey, sleeping beauty, ya gonna get up for school or what?" 

He cracked an eye open. "Lemme alone, I was in the middle of a great dream." He smiled and snuggled deeper into the bed. "A dream about ladybugs."


End file.
